Looking Back
by BeastRage the Hunter
Summary: The future of Cybertron lies in the legends of humanity. Ancient debts must be forgiven, mysteries unveiled, before anyone can save the Cybertronians. Decepticons or Autobots alike must face the darkness of the past, in one question: What exactly was the Allspark?
1. The Letter

A/N: This is my attempted follow-up to _Fallen so Far. _It's going to be a multiple chapter story, with me doing *gasp* actual research on real world history events. If I make too many mistakes, please let me know in a review. Now, enjoy _Looking Back! _

* * *

_Long ago we were few. Then our people multiplied across the face of Cybertron. It was not many, but still more than our original numbers._

_That is when they came. The Quintessons. A powerful race that saw us only as future slaves to add to their great Empire. We fought back against the invaders and managed to repel them, but to great cost. I became the only femme, with our numbers lessened almost to the off-lining of our race. _

_Thirteen of us stood together, petitioning to the Creator Primus. He answered our cries and soothed us, asking what we desired of him. We requested a way for our kind to continue, a way to become great and powerful like the Quintessons. He was silent, before asking, "What will you give for such?" "Anything, lord. We only desire for the people to live and thrive once more." "It shall be done so."_

_The Creator marked the thirteen of us, naming us "Primes". We would be his servants under him, in exchange for such gifts. His blessings went far beyond that. Each one of us gained a power, a power that would used for all others' good. I became a Creator, a Smith of tools beyond imagination. The others were similarly gifted._

_The second part of it came soon after. He gave us a set of coordinates, coordinates to a far-off planet. His parting last words still haunt me. "If you wish for power, such as the Quintessons, you must do the unthinkable to gain it. Such as they did." We thought nothing of it at the time, only thinking of reviving our race. Now, I wonder what would have happened if we had realized what he meant..._

_We landed on the world, a world full of organic life. The search began for our foretold power source. It was not long until we were met with resistance. Organic animals objected to our searching, and attacked us. It was a barely two of the planet's solar cycles before they had been stopped. For good. _

_We tracked the few survivors of the species to a strange cavern. A cavern full of pulsing crystals similar to energon in chemical make-up. I did not know what happened to the organics that fled there, nor do I now. All I know was that there were no organics there when we arrived. The crystals glimmered every color, the centermost and largest one shining silver. _

_To this day, I do not know what possessed us to start breaking the crystals of what was obviously a sacred place. All were shattered, except for the silver. Megatronus stepped forward to chip it out. The crystal let out a wave of power that knocked us all to the ground. When we arose, it had turned a solid tan color._

_Returning to Cybertron, I carved symbols on the crystal, and formed it into a cube. Now all we had to do was wait. _

_Our patience was rewarded. Filling the cube with power, our people were able to produce sparks from it. Sparks of sparklings. Cybertron would flourish once more. I rejoiced alongside my fellow Primes. That was before I became aware of the side effects of our greed. For it was greed, make no mistake. Greed to become a powerful empire, rivaling our attackers._

_The side effects were not seen for a long time. But they were there. Femmes eventually stopped sparking, preferring to rely on the now-named 'Allspark'. More and more mechs came, while the number of femmes dwindled. A call for order came. We needed a better system to govern. And so, Primus forgive me, I voted for the conceived 'caste system'. I helped condemn our people to the downfall that was then affecting the Quintesson Empire. _

_Cybertron became mighty, center of a new planets-wide empire. It is still mighty, as far as I know. But the cracks will form. I know, for I put them there when Cybertron decided that we no longer needed Primus, not when we had the Allspark to use for as many sparklings as we wished. I sorrow, for now sparklings are almost...disposable, when we can always use the Allspark to make more._

_I watch the Allspark now. It glimmers, but is nowhere as bright as it was when it was a crystal in a far-away cave. I wonder if the organics we slaughtered had worshipped it as their own god. I wonder if we have built our empire on the bones of helpless beings that could not stand against us. The thirteen of us Primes go, to find more energy for the Allspark to continue its task. _

_I fear for Megatronus, for he has been much different since he broke the crystal. More...dark. I hope that he will not fall. Fall like the rest of Cybertron._

_Oh Primus, I fear we have made a horrible mistake..._

-On a forgotten datapad within one of the deepest Cybertronian Archives


	2. The Discovery

A/N: Sorry if my characterizations aren't up to scratch. I haven't seen _Armada _ for a while now. This story will either have an influx of OCs or not, depending on the situation. Or my mood. One thing for sure: with my need for cool characters, this will be populated by characters of every variation of TF I can think of (not to mention probably a few from other fandoms. Yay!)

* * *

Chapter One: The Discovery  


"Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish." -Chuck Palahiuk

* * *

_This is so stupid. Why am I even doing this?_ Alexis grimaced. Hunting for Egyptian tombs sites was _not _how she had wanted to spend her vacation. But with her uncle being a lead in Egyptology, what had she been expecting? _Certainly not climbing through a tunnel to get my uncle a flashlight. _

The girl started grumbling to herself. "Of course he has to forget his flashlight. And does he get it himself? No! I wish he had let me stay in the hotel room with my laptop." She was so busy complaining that she failed to notice cracks spider-webbing beneath her...

"Ah!" Alexis screamed, flailing as she fell through the air, surrounded by walls of stone. When she hit the stone flooring, she heard something in her arm crack. Carefully sitting up, cradling her arm, Alexis took in her new surroundings.

An eye was staring directly at her. She nearly cried out before realizing that was a painted eye. An eye of a strange human figure. Taking in more, she paused to think. _Won't my uncle love to see this. But... _One thing still bothered her. _What Egyptian god had bat wings?_

She climbed to her feet, wincing every time her arm moved. Which was a _lot. _Alexis walked up close enough to the wall to study the dust-covered paintings. The detail was...astonishing. She traced her fingers alongside a bird that seemed ready to take flight. The big picture (pardon the pun) was more than that. African animals covered the walls, with the strangely winged goddess in the center.

Unusual symbols surrounded the goddess, symbols that looked more Chinese than Egyptian hieroglyphics. Yet somehow they weren't. They were more sharp, more edged, and less curving. But somehow just as complex, maybe even more so. Alexis found herself wishing for her laptop again, just to see what language they were from.

That's when Alexis found her first monster. She jerked back, a shriek escaping her mouth. Then Alexis calmed down enough to examine it further. The monster was...pointy was the first word that came to mind. It was off near one of the corners, which was probably the reason she hadn't noticed it at first. Its red eyes glared at the center figure of the goddess. A minor demon of some sort, perhaps?

With further looking, she found three more demons, each in their own corner. Each differently shaped, but all were pointy and red-eyed. All incredibly intricate. If Alexis hadn't known better, she would have claimed that the demons were machines of some sort, with their parts displayed. All in all, a remarkable discovery that would make her uncle (and herself) famous. And probably very rich. Rich enough for her to upgrade her computer systems to the best of the best.

Alexis, for the first time, was not bored out of her mind by the world of the ancient Egyptians.

* * *

Her uncle and rest of the gang found her there later, still looking at the walls. When her uncle swooped in behind to surprise-hug, she yelped in pain. She had entirely forgotten about the pain in her arm. As they made way to leave the apparent tomb, he looked at the paintings, glasses gleaming in the low light.

"We need to call in some experts. This is the find of the century!" Beautifully preserved, not that he would have expected any less from a place so hidden away from the outside world. The only reason they had found it at all was Alexis's stumbling, or falling, across it. This would rewrite everything they knew of this part of history.

* * *

Or, it would have if it hadn't had Cybertronian symbols all over it and four specimens of the alien race painted along the edges. If there was one thing that the world governments agreed on about the Cybertronians, it was that is best to keep their existence hidden from the general populace. Even if was the barest of references.

Somewhere on the other side of the world, someone woke up.


End file.
